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jessicaleahreads's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book, though towards the end got annoyed as it seemed the main characters were all on their own planet and being ridiculous.
keimre734's review against another edition
5.0
What if you were bound for a new world, about to pledge your life to someone you'd been promised to since birth, and one unexpected violent attack made survival—not love—the issue?
Out in the murky nebula lurks an unseen enemy: the New Horizon. On its way to populate a distant planet in the wake of Earth's collapse, the ship's crew has been unable to conceive a generation to continue its mission. They need young girls desperately, or their zealous leader's efforts will fail. Onboard their sister ship, the Empyrean, the unsuspecting families don't know an attack is being mounted that could claim the most important among them...
Fifteen-year-old Waverly is part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space; she was born on the Empyrean, and the large farming vessel is all she knows. Her concerns are those of any teenager—until Kieran Alden proposes to her. The handsome captain-to-be has everything Waverly could ever want in a husband, and with the pressure to start having children, everyone is sure he's the best choice. Except for Waverly, who wants more from life than marriage—and is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.
But when the Empyrean faces sudden attack by their assumed allies, they quickly find out that the enemies aren't all from the outside.
Amy Kathleen Ryan did a great job writing this book. She paints a picture for her readers, and once you start reading, you really do not want to put it down. It is similar to [b:Across the Universe|8235178|Across the Universe (Across the Universe, #1)|Beth Revis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1401852218s/8235178.jpg|13082532] by Beth Revis, but it does have some differences as well which makes it unique. Overall, this is a great book that I would recommend to anyone!
Out in the murky nebula lurks an unseen enemy: the New Horizon. On its way to populate a distant planet in the wake of Earth's collapse, the ship's crew has been unable to conceive a generation to continue its mission. They need young girls desperately, or their zealous leader's efforts will fail. Onboard their sister ship, the Empyrean, the unsuspecting families don't know an attack is being mounted that could claim the most important among them...
Fifteen-year-old Waverly is part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space; she was born on the Empyrean, and the large farming vessel is all she knows. Her concerns are those of any teenager—until Kieran Alden proposes to her. The handsome captain-to-be has everything Waverly could ever want in a husband, and with the pressure to start having children, everyone is sure he's the best choice. Except for Waverly, who wants more from life than marriage—and is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.
But when the Empyrean faces sudden attack by their assumed allies, they quickly find out that the enemies aren't all from the outside.
Amy Kathleen Ryan did a great job writing this book. She paints a picture for her readers, and once you start reading, you really do not want to put it down. It is similar to [b:Across the Universe|8235178|Across the Universe (Across the Universe, #1)|Beth Revis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1401852218s/8235178.jpg|13082532] by Beth Revis, but it does have some differences as well which makes it unique. Overall, this is a great book that I would recommend to anyone!
arcanewolf's review against another edition
2.0
Whilst the concept of this whole novel was very interesting, I have to say that the beginning was a bit slow paced and I had a hard time getting into it. However, it started to pick up towards the end.
I think the only thing that kept me reading this book was the character Waverly. She's strong, brave and calls out on other character's bullshit. She's a great heroine to the story and I'm very much on her side rather than the boy's. Waverly should be the leader.
I think both Kieran and Seth don't deserve her in terms of the romance. I think Seth is too impulsive and Kieran is a bit selfish. Waverly had shown that she can take care of herself without one of the boys.
The idea of breeding humans in space was an unique concept, but I love how there's a civil war about to break out between this society, it shows that even in space, humanity remains the same and shows just how everyone wants to "rule the world".
I don't know if I'll continue this series, if I do, it'll only be because I want to see how Waverly progresses. I don't really care for the other characters at the moment.
I think the only thing that kept me reading this book was the character Waverly. She's strong, brave and calls out on other character's bullshit. She's a great heroine to the story and I'm very much on her side rather than the boy's. Waverly should be the leader.
I think both Kieran and Seth don't deserve her in terms of the romance. I think Seth is too impulsive and Kieran is a bit selfish. Waverly had shown that she can take care of herself without one of the boys.
The idea of breeding humans in space was an unique concept, but I love how there's a civil war about to break out between this society, it shows that even in space, humanity remains the same and shows just how everyone wants to "rule the world".
I don't know if I'll continue this series, if I do, it'll only be because I want to see how Waverly progresses. I don't really care for the other characters at the moment.
stephbrittoleal's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
writings_of_a_reader's review against another edition
3.0
I received this book from a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
Let me start by saying Glow is dark and thought provoking and colored throughout with shades of grey. I would say the book was part Lord of the Flies and part religious cult set in space.
There are characters that I thought I liked and then wasn't sure. Namely the two love interests. One does something that is going to be very difficult to redeem himself from. In the end I decided that I didn't like either one of them. Out of all of the characters in the book the girls are the only ones I liked throughout the whole story.
I'm intrigued to find out what the author is saying about religion here. This book deals with religion taken to the extreme. There are self-appointed religious figures and cult leaders today and throughout history that I can think of who use their words to manipulate others into following them. Some of them do it for money and some of them do it for power. As a religious person myself I am often repelled by people like this. So we have a character like this in this book, but later when another one of the characters starts hearing what seems to be the voice of god I began to wonder...is she going to explore that there is a difference in people who appoint themselves as voices of god and those who really are called of god? And how would anyone be able to tell the difference? So was the author saying all religion is corrupt, or just the zealots? Really it’s too soon to tell after reading this first book in the series.
Overall it was an intriguing book and I think I will read the next one because I want to know how or if the author is going to answer all those questions.
Let me start by saying Glow is dark and thought provoking and colored throughout with shades of grey. I would say the book was part Lord of the Flies and part religious cult set in space.
There are characters that I thought I liked and then wasn't sure. Namely the two love interests. One does something that is going to be very difficult to redeem himself from. In the end I decided that I didn't like either one of them. Out of all of the characters in the book the girls are the only ones I liked throughout the whole story.
I'm intrigued to find out what the author is saying about religion here. This book deals with religion taken to the extreme. There are self-appointed religious figures and cult leaders today and throughout history that I can think of who use their words to manipulate others into following them. Some of them do it for money and some of them do it for power. As a religious person myself I am often repelled by people like this. So we have a character like this in this book, but later when another one of the characters starts hearing what seems to be the voice of god I began to wonder...is she going to explore that there is a difference in people who appoint themselves as voices of god and those who really are called of god? And how would anyone be able to tell the difference? So was the author saying all religion is corrupt, or just the zealots? Really it’s too soon to tell after reading this first book in the series.
Overall it was an intriguing book and I think I will read the next one because I want to know how or if the author is going to answer all those questions.
rakesrogues's review against another edition
3.0
A thrilling space adventure that is often compared to Beth Revis’s Across the Universe, GLOW is a thought-provoking science fiction novel that is a great addition to the young adult genre. I love science fiction and I’m really happy that it’s finally – albeit, slowly – gaining popularity in YA. I read a bit of mixed reviews from GLOW so I wasn’t expecting much, but I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would.
I really love the theme of religion in GLOW. I’m not a very religious person, but it definitely made me think of the impact of religion in a society. Religion is important to the plot of GLOW but one does not have to be a religious person to enjoy the book. Religion was the deciding factor that determined which ship a person ended up in: the Empyrean (non-religious) or the New Horizon (religious). GLOW made me think of why religion starts, what it does for a society, and why it is important and sometimes necessary. GLOW isn’t preachy at all, and it definitely gives insight to both positives and negatives for religion.
My major complaint with GLOW is the characters. I thought that the premise was interesting and the plot was engaging, but I had a hard time enjoying the story because I felt disconnected to the characters. I think my problem was the fact that I didn’t know who to trust. GLOW is written in third-person, alternating between Keiran and Waverly. I usually blame my disconnection with the characters to the point of view, but not in this case.
Keiran Alden is technically supposed to be the protagonist, but couldn’t sympathize with him. I felt that as the first born on the Empyrean, he had lived a much more privileged life than the others, and I just didn’t like that about him. It’s not his fault, of course. On the other hand, I really wanted to like Seth. I like his interactions with Waverly, but I didn’t understand how he could be so mean. I sympathized with his character, but I didn’t understand any of his actions. I do like Waverly’s character. She might not be physically strong, but she’s mentally fit. She’s clever and I love that she is determined never to give up.
GLOW‘s audiobook is narrated by Ilyana Kadushin and Matthew Brown. Like the novel, the two voice actors alternate narrating the story. Since the point of view is third person limited, the narrators are not exactly the “voice” of the characters. However, the story itself provides many opportunities for the actors to portray Keiran and Waverly’s voices through the dialogue. Both Kadushin’s and Brown’s narrations are rich with emotion.
One complaint, however, is that the amount of characters in GLOW makes it difficult to differentiate between one voice from another. Brown does alter his voice slightly in between characters during a conversation, but sometimes it is hard to tell when one character stops speaking and when another responds. Furthermore, as much as Waverly is my favorite character, I did not like the way she was portrayed in the audiobook. Just from the way she talked, I couldn’t help but feel as if she sounded a bit dumb. I thought that when she was first introduced by Brown in the first chapter of the audiobook that it was just because it was read from Keiran’s perspective, but that wasn’t the case. In the following chapter, Kadushin similarly portrayed Waverly in that manner. She sounded less confident and unsure of herself than I first imagined her to be.
The premise of GLOW was fantastic, and I can actually see myself continuing the series. There are many questions left unanswered in GLOW, but the ending wasn’t very much of a cliffhanger so I felt satisfied upon completion. I would definitely recommend this one to fans of science fiction. As to whether or not the print or audiobook version is better, I think I would have to go with the print version this time around. I think audiobooks work a lot better from the first person perspective.
If you really want me to compare it to Across the Universe, I’ll say this: I’m not a fan of Across the Universe and I definitely enjoyed GLOW a lot more. Predictability-wise, there were some things that I didn’t see coming. Romance isn’t that big of a deal as it was in Across the Universe which was great. GLOW has a lot more meat to it because it actually made me think.
I really love the theme of religion in GLOW. I’m not a very religious person, but it definitely made me think of the impact of religion in a society. Religion is important to the plot of GLOW but one does not have to be a religious person to enjoy the book. Religion was the deciding factor that determined which ship a person ended up in: the Empyrean (non-religious) or the New Horizon (religious). GLOW made me think of why religion starts, what it does for a society, and why it is important and sometimes necessary. GLOW isn’t preachy at all, and it definitely gives insight to both positives and negatives for religion.
My major complaint with GLOW is the characters. I thought that the premise was interesting and the plot was engaging, but I had a hard time enjoying the story because I felt disconnected to the characters. I think my problem was the fact that I didn’t know who to trust. GLOW is written in third-person, alternating between Keiran and Waverly. I usually blame my disconnection with the characters to the point of view, but not in this case.
Keiran Alden is technically supposed to be the protagonist, but couldn’t sympathize with him. I felt that as the first born on the Empyrean, he had lived a much more privileged life than the others, and I just didn’t like that about him. It’s not his fault, of course. On the other hand, I really wanted to like Seth. I like his interactions with Waverly, but I didn’t understand how he could be so mean. I sympathized with his character, but I didn’t understand any of his actions. I do like Waverly’s character. She might not be physically strong, but she’s mentally fit. She’s clever and I love that she is determined never to give up.
GLOW‘s audiobook is narrated by Ilyana Kadushin and Matthew Brown. Like the novel, the two voice actors alternate narrating the story. Since the point of view is third person limited, the narrators are not exactly the “voice” of the characters. However, the story itself provides many opportunities for the actors to portray Keiran and Waverly’s voices through the dialogue. Both Kadushin’s and Brown’s narrations are rich with emotion.
One complaint, however, is that the amount of characters in GLOW makes it difficult to differentiate between one voice from another. Brown does alter his voice slightly in between characters during a conversation, but sometimes it is hard to tell when one character stops speaking and when another responds. Furthermore, as much as Waverly is my favorite character, I did not like the way she was portrayed in the audiobook. Just from the way she talked, I couldn’t help but feel as if she sounded a bit dumb. I thought that when she was first introduced by Brown in the first chapter of the audiobook that it was just because it was read from Keiran’s perspective, but that wasn’t the case. In the following chapter, Kadushin similarly portrayed Waverly in that manner. She sounded less confident and unsure of herself than I first imagined her to be.
The premise of GLOW was fantastic, and I can actually see myself continuing the series. There are many questions left unanswered in GLOW, but the ending wasn’t very much of a cliffhanger so I felt satisfied upon completion. I would definitely recommend this one to fans of science fiction. As to whether or not the print or audiobook version is better, I think I would have to go with the print version this time around. I think audiobooks work a lot better from the first person perspective.
If you really want me to compare it to Across the Universe, I’ll say this: I’m not a fan of Across the Universe and I definitely enjoyed GLOW a lot more. Predictability-wise, there were some things that I didn’t see coming. Romance isn’t that big of a deal as it was in Across the Universe which was great. GLOW has a lot more meat to it because it actually made me think.
narteest's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't have much of an opinion on this book. It was a little confusing. But well I'll just have to read the next to find out what happens. Despite my bored flipping of the pages, I am interested in seeing what happens next.
kasiej's review against another edition
4.0
Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan, the first installment in the Sky Chasers Series, made my stomach do flips in ways that I didn’t know was possible.
Imagine for a moment, that you’re witnessing a train wreck in slow motion. Not just any train, a passenger train. There is nothing you can do to help or change the outcome, only watch as each car is smashed into the next creating one giant heap of wreckage. This is how I felt reading this book, painfully glued to each word.
Glow was dark, tragic, and unbelievably epic.
Warning; Spoilers Somewhat...
Now why must the chapters be named? I keep seeing this and it’s really starting to irritate me. Some of the titles are basically little spoilers for each section.
(¬_¬”)
The events that unfold are bitter sweet. It’s fantastic how gripping each moment is, but at the time same, it’s brutal. You can tell the author already had the entire trilogy mapped out for this series. At least, I hope she does since the entire first book left me emotionally drained. I felt like I was watching ASPCA commercials back to back.
Religion was a heavy topic throughout the book. I am not religious. I do respect all religions and those that follow them. To each their own. How the author brought religion and it’s influence into the story was brilliant. It provides each side with positives and negatives, allowing the reader to interpret the conflict it creates.
I give the author credit for a work such as this that forces you to feel so deeply. I battled between 4 and 5 stars for couple days before I finally decided on 4. I withheld the final star because the of character interaction and the ending.
Predictable and anticlimactic. After all of the cruel things they went through the ending was a bit disappointing. At about 60% I realized I knew exactly how this would end and then it did.
Well I’ve already picked up Book 2, Spark. Book 3, Flame is out early next year. This first chapter has definitely set the series up and I will absolutely be finishing it. Something good has to happen to these kids eventually right? Right?!
Imagine for a moment, that you’re witnessing a train wreck in slow motion. Not just any train, a passenger train. There is nothing you can do to help or change the outcome, only watch as each car is smashed into the next creating one giant heap of wreckage. This is how I felt reading this book, painfully glued to each word.
Glow was dark, tragic, and unbelievably epic.
Warning; Spoilers Somewhat...
Spoiler
The first thing that caught my attention when I started reading was the multiple POVs. I love that. Each 3-4 chapters were viewed from either Waverly or Keiran. This style had an interesting twist. It brought a different feeling since a few of the segments over lapped each other in time. This helped keep up the suspense since you wouldn’t find out what happened to one or the other until the author backtracked to their version. However, I really wish I could have seen a bit of Seth’s POV.Now why must the chapters be named? I keep seeing this and it’s really starting to irritate me. Some of the titles are basically little spoilers for each section.
(¬_¬”)
The events that unfold are bitter sweet. It’s fantastic how gripping each moment is, but at the time same, it’s brutal. You can tell the author already had the entire trilogy mapped out for this series. At least, I hope she does since the entire first book left me emotionally drained. I felt like I was watching ASPCA commercials back to back.
Religion was a heavy topic throughout the book. I am not religious. I do respect all religions and those that follow them. To each their own. How the author brought religion and it’s influence into the story was brilliant. It provides each side with positives and negatives, allowing the reader to interpret the conflict it creates.
I give the author credit for a work such as this that forces you to feel so deeply. I battled between 4 and 5 stars for couple days before I finally decided on 4. I withheld the final star because the of character interaction and the ending.
Predictable and anticlimactic. After all of the cruel things they went through the ending was a bit disappointing. At about 60% I realized I knew exactly how this would end and then it did.
Well I’ve already picked up Book 2, Spark. Book 3, Flame is out early next year. This first chapter has definitely set the series up and I will absolutely be finishing it. Something good has to happen to these kids eventually right? Right?!
taylorlaine2413's review against another edition
5.0
Loved the characters and all the twists. I suspect the next one will make just stop at parts and sya "Woah, I did not see that coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"